Visit A Dental Office Japan has some information of your finest dentist
in Japan

Saitama-ken : The Short Summary Of Saitama Prefecture

Saitama Prefecture is the western part of the Kanto region, Tokyo is on the south, Gunma and Tochigi Prefecture is on the North, Ibaraki
and Chiba Prefecture is on the east, and Yamanashi prefecture is on the west, so Saitama is
an inland prefecture. Therefore it has many highways and railroads (including
Shinkansen) to northern part in Japan. In the eastern part of Saitama,
Tone-gawa River, Ara-kawa River and Naka-gawa River pass through, on the
western part of it, Chichibu Mountains lay down.

Saitama prefecture has many tumulus, the Sakitama Kofun-gun (the cluster
of burial mounds in Saitama) is very famous, the prefectural name Saitama
is named after it. The history of the area was very long. Saitama originally
belonged to the northern part of Musashi Province from the Taika era. And
many people from Silla and Kokuryo settled in and cultivated the land in
the basin of the Koma-gawa River, the Imperial Court in Nara offered them
to move, so it registered the Koma-gun (Koma district) in the province
in 718.

In Medieval Ages, the Musashi Bushi-dan (a large group of samurais in Musashi
Province) organized by the Chichibu Clan and its branch families, the Kawagoe
Clan and the Hatayama Clan actively took part in. And also the Musashi
Nana-to (the Seven groups of samurais) played in energetically. In 1180,
Minamoto-no-Yoritomo, the founder of Kamakura Bakufu (the Kamakura Shogunate)
at Kamakura in Sagami-no-kuni (Kanagawa Prefecture) and the first Shogun of the Bakufu raised his arm, and they voluntarily
belonged to his arms. From Kamakura to Muromachi Period, the Kawagoe Clan
and some clans related to the Heishi Clan controlled the area but its power
was not so influential. After the Kawagoe Clan declined, Musashi became
a stage of the conflicts between the Ashikaga Clan of the Kamakura Kubo
(the chief warlord at Kamakura who was relative of the Shogun in Kyoto
in Muromachi Period) and the Uesugi Clans of Kanto Kanrei (the shogunal
deputy at Kanto Region), so Musashi Province was in the state of war. In
1457, Dokan Ota built the Kawagoe Castle, and after he was assassinated,
the Ougigayatsu Uesugi Clan took the castle as their base and developed
its power in southern part of the Musashi, during the Yamanouchi Uesugi
Clan took the power in the north.

In the Sengoku Period (the Warring States Period), the Go-Hojo Clan at
Odawara in Sagami-no-kuni (Kanagawa prefecture) gained the power in Musashi and
it took the Kawagoe Castle. To get the castle, there were several battles
between the Go-Hojo Clan and the Uesgis Clans. In 1541, Tomosada Uesugi
in the Ougigayatsu, Norimasa Uesugi in the Yamanouchi of the Kanto Kanrei
and the Koga Kubo (the chief warlord at Koga in Shimousa who was relative
of the Shogun in Kyoto in Muromachi Period) attached the Kawagoe Castle
with over a hundred thousand samurai worriers. Then the Night Operation
Of Kawagoe happened, Ujiyasu Hojo won the battle and gained the almost
all provinces in the Kanto region under his influence. Ujiyasu suppressed
Norimasa continuously, then he depended upon Kagetora Nagao who was the
deputy military governor at Echigo (Niigata prefecture), and Norimasa handed
over the headship of the Uesgi family and the title of Kanto Kanrei instead
of getting his support. Kagetora later named Kenshin Uesugi. After Kagetora
became the Kanto Kanrei, the conflicts between the Uesugi and the Hojo
happend repeatedly in Musashi. After Hideyoshi Toyotomi won the Siege of
Odawaran in 1590, the Hojo Clan ruined and Ieyasu Tokugawa moved to the
Edo castle and also he gained the power to control the Kanto region.

In 1603, Ieyasu gained the position of the Shogun who was the military
leader of samurais could control Japan, so he founded the Edo Bakufu (the
Edo Shogunate)in Edo. The area now Saitama Prefecture was divided into
three districts to be controlled by three lords served the Tokugawa Clan
since their ancestors. They took Kagagoe, Oshi and Iwatsuki as their bases.
Especially, Kawagoe developed one of the industrial centers in Musashi
and flourished, so it was named 'Ko-Edo', it means the little Edo (Tokyo).
There were some highways and rivers to trade, and it was easy ways to bring
agricultural products to Edo (Tokyo), then the suburban agriculture was
developed.

In 1868, after the Meiji Restoration, Musashi Province was finally divided into three districts, Saitama, Tokyo and Kangawa prefectures. Now the population in Saitama Prefecture is nearly 7 millions.

Visit A City In SAITAMA Prefecture

Saitama has been the important transportation point since the ancient ages;
Nakasendo highway, Oshukaido highway and Nikkokaido highway has been developed
since Edo period, now Tohoku, Joetsu, Nagano and Hokuriku Shinkansen go
through Saitama prefecture. Chichibu remains nature and its own tradition,
Kawagoe is called ko-edo (little Edo) with beautiful landscapes of storehouses,
and Gyoda has old remains and Oshijo Castle. There are a lot of attractive
landmarks in Saitam prefectuer. Why don't you visit Saitam prefecture?